Education with a focus on translational cancer research is still an unmet need today. To cover that need the Summer School in Translational Cancer Research was initiated in 2011 by the EurocanPlatform. Since 2016 the course is offered under the umbrella of Cancer Core Europe in collaboration with DKTK (German Cancer Consortium), EACR (The European Association for Cancer Research) and OECI (Organisation of European Cancer Institutes).

The Summer School gives examples of research areas covering the cancer research continuum from basic, through clinical research and what is needed for adoption in the health care system. Well recognised lecturers give overview presentations and are available for discussions. An important aim of the Summer School is interaction between participants coming from both preclinical laboratories and clinical centres. We want to stimulate interactions for multidisciplinary / professional collaborations at the international level. The participants have the possibility to present their research projects in abstracts and there will be time for oral presentations and poster discussions.

Feedback from Participants

Adouda Adjiri, Physician Scientist: “Overall lectures ranked from good to excellent and each lecture was followed with exciting discussions raised by students’ questions and then by participants.“

Terézia Kisková, PhD Student: “As a basic researcher I sometimes loose the vision of why and what I am doing during the routine of everyday´s laboratory work. The Summer school has bridged the gaps between medical doctors and basic researchers. I now understand even better the need of basic research in the clinics and learnt to understand the "language of clinicians". I would highly recommend everybody to attend the summer school next year.”

Jakob Nikolas Kather, Physician Scientist: “Especially, the mixture of physicians, basic researchers and young specialists in a particular area made it possible to look at our own research projects from different angles. Especially, the comparison between different European countries was very enlightening.”

Soulafa Mamlouk, Postdoc: “The term ‘translation cancer research’ has been so well drilled into our daily nomenclature that we of­ten forget its actual meaning. This event truly reminds of its significance. The mingling of the me­dical and scientific audience reflected the true me­aning of ‘translational’. Add to all that a dazzling re­sort on the cliffs of Portugal’s Algarve and you have the recipe for a perfect scientific summer course."

Sebastian Dieter, Physician Scientist: „The course was a unique opportunity to get a comprehensive over­view of trends in different research areas that will shape future cancer treatment. Listening to the ex­citing talks it became very clear that next generation cancer medicine is so much more than identifying targets, developing drugs and giving them to pati­ents: Promoting personalized cancer medicine will mean building bridges between complex research areas as cancer epidemiology, prevention, innova­tive diagnostics and novel treatment strategies. We also need to build up on the developments of technology in the „omics“ era and equally take into account health economic issues. But above all: We need to closely collaborate Europe-wide and world-wide in a very structured manner. Interacting with all these fascinating researchers from all over Euro­pe this meeting was an excellent starting point for me doing so."